The festival highlights the local culinary scene and celebrates the community's traditions and industry The fishing village of San Remo is in the Bass Coast Shire of Victoria; gateway to the tourist destination Phillip Island, and a great place to sample a fresh bounty of seafood – or catch your own. The history of fishing in San Remo stretches back tens of thousands of years. The Bunurong peopl
e would travel to this coast every spring to dine on fish, crayfish, abalone, and mutton bird. Commercial fishing in San Remo has been taking place for just over eighty years. The San Remo Fisherman’s Co-op was officially founded in 1948 and is one of only three remaining cooperatives in Victoria. The original target species was couta, the favourite fish in Melbourne’s fish and chip shops at the time. These days gummy shark is the firm favourite on many San Remo boats, with other common species including crayfish, scallops, squid, and wrasse. The Blessing of the Fleet began in the early 1960s – competition was fierce among the large couta fleet, and they were all eager to get help from above!
